The list witnessed the absence of veteran striker Emad Meteb for the third game in a row. He was excluded from Zamalek game after a row with Saleh Gomaa and Zizo, before he missed El-Gaish match for technical reasons.

Al Ahly midfielder Hossam Ashour was also excluded due to lack of fitness, following his recovery from injury.

The list of absentees also included Walid Soliman, Bassem Ali and Ahmed Adel Abdel Moneim due to injury, while youngster Ahmed Hamdy and defender Saad Samir were left out due to technical reasons.

The team’s right-back Ahmed Fathy returned to squad after recovering from his Zamalek game injury.

Ahmed El-Sheikh, who was repeatedly excluded from squad, as well as Mohamed Naguib, was included for El-Mahalla game.